Something to Talk About
by Cooptown
Summary: Sometimes, the best encounters happen by coincidence. Written for the PYOP challenge on the author's corner forums. JJ/Reid.  Challenge: character's meet by accident at a theater.


**Written for the PYOP (pick your own pairing) challenge on the Author's Corner forums. This is my first challenge, and I'll be honest; I didn't really like this scenario. **

**I hope you guys like reading it though. ;) **

**Pairing: JJ/Reid**

**Given Plot: Characters meet at a movie theater on accident.**

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_**Something to Talk About**_

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It happened on accident, really; but sometimes the best things in life can come from coincidence. Keen hazel eyes caught that slim flash of blonde hair without any intention at all, but the slender male stood up straighter when he noticed it.

"JJ!" He called out, stopping in his tracks. As he'd hoped, the blonde haired woman turned, her face a mask of surprise.

"Hey you," She replied, pulling out of line in front of the local theater to cross the patterned concrete. He met her halfway and they looked at each other awkwardly.

"What're you doing here by yourself?" Reid asked curiously, glancing between her and the cinema.

JJ's blue eyes traced his face calculatingly. "I wanted to get out of the house. Don't get me wrong; I'm glad we got to be home this weekend, but I wanted to get out for a few. I thought I'd see a movie… I guess I was eager, I didn't think to invite anyone else."

He shifted under her gaze. "Oh, that makes sense."

He took a step in the direction he'd been going.

"Hey, hold on," she said in surprise, folding slim fingers around his arm. "What're you doing out here?"

"Uh," he murmured shyly, pulling from her grip. "I'm writing a paper on profiling for law enforcement officials across the states- so cops can learn the tricks. I was, oddly enough, heading to the bookstore to pick up one of Rossi's books."

One side of JJ's mouth turned up, just slightly. "Don't you have them memorized?"

He shrugged. "It'd be nice to have for reference… and I was getting a little bored."

"Get it later," She replied quickly, "we have a movie to catch."

His eyebrows shot up in surprise, but she was already nudging him toward the crowded theater. "JJ, I don't really-"

"What do you want to see?" She interrupted, coming to stand beside him with folded arms, staring up at the flashing list of showings.

"Nothing scary," he finally sighed, sounding fairly resigned.

"Something scary then," she nodded, ignoring his protest and moving to purchase the tickets.

Once she had them, Reid reluctantly followed her into the theater, opting to sit as high up and far away as possibly, but JJ was already seated right in front. She patted the seat beside her, and the profiler found he had no choice, miserably settling in for the horror movie. The brief moment of dark silence between the end of the previews and the start of the movie had Reid shifting uncomfortably, but he felt JJ's hand on his own and he resisted the urge to pull away.

The movie immediately started with loud bangs, and Reid grouchily thought about how this was not the way he'd planned on spending his evening. But when he felt JJ slip her fingers into his and squeeze, he relaxed. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

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They walked out of the theater two hours later, JJ having a light bounce in her step and Reid looking mildly traumatized.

"Did you like it?" She asked, facing him with a pale, arched brow. He resisted the urge to glare balefully at her.

"Not really," he admitted, "but I enjoyed seeing it anyway." _With you _went unsaid, but JJ heard it anyway, making her smile.

"Come on," she said brightly, grabbing his wrist, "the bookstore. We can get coffee."

They made their way to the quiet bookshop, and JJ took a seat in the café, looking up Reid. The young profiler glanced back at the rows and rows of bookshelves, before digging through his wallet and handing her his credit card.

"I'm going to go pick up my book; go ahead and get whatever you want."

She took the card and sauntered to the coffee bar, making her order. By the time she made it back to the table, Reid was already there, leafing through the book at an abnormally (for him, anyway) slow pace.

"Caramel macchiato?" She offered, setting the drink in front of him and sitting down, taking a sip of her own latte. She placed a little paper bag on the table neatly. "I got some of these cute little pumpkin scones, too. I hope you don't mind."

"Not at all, thank you," Reid replied with a smile, looking up from the book to accept his credit card from JJ's outstretched hand. He pocketed it and lifted his coffee, sipping it carefully. "My favorite- how'd you know? I'm normally the one who brings the coffee."

JJ smiled slyly, both brows raised toward her hairline, "I _profiled,_" she supplied proudly. "You like sugary sweet coffee- I knew that. Whenever we do those late-night snack runs at CVS you get a bag of those werther's caramel things. Caramel macchiato's are both caramelly and sugary."

"Caramelly isn't a word," Reid chided, "but that's good work anyway."

"Thank you," JJ responded, "I've been trying to learn… a little bit, anyway."

Reid seemed to perk up. "Why didn't you say so earlier? Have you thought about taking classes?"

"Why would I?" She asked, taking a sip of her vanilla latte, "you'd probably make a better teacher, Dr. Reid."

He rested his chin on the palm of one hand. "You want me to show you how to profile?"

"Well… properly, yeah. Just a few tricks, if you don't mind."

"Of course not," Reid replied confusedly, sitting up with interest. "Okay, let's start with that girl, over there."

JJ glanced over to see a young girl with an auburn ponytail, sitting alone with neatly crossed legs and hands folded in her lap. She looked nervous.

"She looks a little embarrassed. Why?"

JJ's brows furrowed. "She's a teenager. Maybe she feels awkward, sitting alone like that."

"So why is she doing it?"

JJ looked at her again, blinking. The girl glanced at her watch, took a sip of her drink, and glanced at it again before pulling out a cell phone. "She's waiting for someone."

"Alright. Who?"

JJ looked at Reid curiously. "How could I know that?"

"Study what she's doing. Notice her expressions," the profiler coached encouragingly.

JJ watched the girl send a rapid text, running a hand through her bangs and rapping her nails on the tabletop. "She's waiting for a date," the blonde liaison realized, "she's probably texting him, or a friend. She feels like he isn't going to show up because he's late."

"Or she could just be waiting for a friend."

"No, I say date, judging by how she just smoothed her eyebrows, fixed her ponytail and pulled the front of her shirt down. And look- here he comes."

A young boy about her age sauntered into the café, exchanging a few quick words with the girl and taking the seat across from her. JJ looked at Reid with a smug smile. The profiler looked surprised, but pleased.

"Good work. What tipped you off?" He asked with genuine curiosity.

"Being a girl," JJ laughed, "she wouldn't be that nervous waiting for a friend. I'm also learning that _you, _my dear friend, are not looking forward to going home, despite the fact that it's getting close to ten. You've been getting quite comfortable over there and you're getting really into that book. You've been shifting your weight and glancing out the window every now and then. A little scared from that movie are you, Spence?"

His eyes widened, just fractionally, but she noticed that too; her smiled widened even more and he sat up in surprise.

"Well, JJ, I have to say I'm impressed," he said slowly, "that's… very surprising."

"Thank you. But, that movie did scare the hell out of you, didn't it?"

His brows furrowed and he scowled. "_The Last Exorcism._ It was a little creepy, alright? I mean, can you imagine being possessed? She was killing animals and didn't even realize it. It was all documentary-style…. Okay, okay, it was scary. I told you I don't like scary movies."

"Well," JJ replied cheerfully, standing up and grabbing his wrist again, pulling the protesting profiler to his feet. "Let's go see a comedy before it gets too late."

He grabbed his book before she could drag him off, and he followed her back to the theater with a thin sense of confusion. He was left wondering how the night had turned out this way, but glad that it had.

Sometimes, the best encounters happened on accident. He wasn't going to complain.

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**I already wrote a oneshot about Reid teaching JJ some profiling tricks, but I don't think it was widely read and it was an easy filler for this fic. **

**I hope you guys liked it. I tried to use the given plot as best I could but I was stumped for the longest time. **

**Well, here's to my first challenge~**

**Thanks for reading. **

**Sharky**


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